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Raja for the GOP: He's far and away its better candidate for the fall : Sunday, May 08, 2011 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11128/1144713-192.stm#ixzz1LrZiSzeV Unlike the Democratic race between two well-known and well-matched candidates, the Republican primary pits a businessman who is relatively unknown against a lawyer who is facing a criminal trial. ---- Listen to the candidates * D. Raja * Chuck McCullough ---- There's no doubt whom the party faithful should nominate: D. Raja of Mt. Lebanon. His opponent, Chuck McCullough of Upper St. Clair, is charged with taking money from an elderly woman who was his client and using it to make donations without her approval. He maintains he has done no wrong, a finding he says was reached by an Orphans Court judge three years ago. Regardless of the outcome of his case, Mr. McCullough, 56, should have passed on the race until he could dispel the legal cloud hanging over his head. Nevertheless, he is a knowledgeable former member of county council who resigned his at-large seat to run for executive. He was county solicitor under Jim Roddey, the first Allegheny County executive, but in this race Mr. Roddey is backing his opponent. Given Mr. McCullough's service to the county, he has definite views about governing, but the charges against him make his nomination a high-risk gambit for Republicans. That is not the case with his ballot adversary. D. Raja, 45, has been a Mt. Lebanon commissioner for more than three years. He left India for the United States in 1986 and became a naturalized citizen. After earning master's degrees at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, he founded Computer Enterprises Inc., a custom software company based in Scott Township with 300 employees. Mr. Raja has been its CEO for 18 years. During his interview with Post-Gazette editors, he laid out a vision of fiscal conservatism. "Generally lower taxes and smaller, efficient government are what I believe in," he said. But he was short on details for how to bring them about. He abhors Allegheny County being singled out for a property reassessment and advocates a statewide solution. He calls the Port Authority's struggles a "cost issue" and wants to restructure pay and benefits to make transit more affordable. He would resist raising taxes by squeezing out inefficiency and reducing city-county service duplications. He'd like to exploit Marcellus Shale gas for revenue, but he also pledges to address the environmental risks. He wants to develop a tech innovation center near the airport on shale drilling and revive airport use in general. "My No. 1 objective is jobs," he said -- a refrain of many candidates. To sound convincing in the fall, Mr. Raja will have to present a more detailed platform. A frequent answer he gave to questions on disparate issues was to bring all parties into a room and work out a solution. As of Friday, his website listed only this under the tab labeled Policy: "Coming soon." Nevertheless, the businessman is backed by the party hierarchy, and it really has no choice. D. Raja has the Post-Gazette endorsement, too, and we look forward to more specifics from him in the fall campaign.